bizarre looking radio towers

[RobbieL2415]

I've always been fascinated by cell towers. When I was a young kid, I would give names to specific cell towers in my area. One of those was this bizarre looking cell tower going up the mountain that I called "Mr. Prickly" due to its strange look of having a bunch of thin "pricks" hanging off of it.

A less bizarre looking cell tower but one that had a very bizarre name (that I called it), was this one (also on the side of the same mountain) that I called Mr. Jessesess. Not sure how I came up with that name, LOL.





Getting out of my neck of the woods, here is a large, very weird looking tower off of Interstate 75 in Forsyth, Georgia: https://www.google.com/maps/@33.0507111,-83.947454,3a,32.7y,337.53h,99.7t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sdbEZnW7UTuwzWLeAPu2vtg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

I could've sworn I've seen duplicate-looking towers elsewhere like this, but can't remember the exact locations.





Also, recently I was doing street-view on US 1 through part of the Florida Keys, and I noticed this: https://www.google.com/maps/@24.620884,-81.6064466,3a,75y,68.12h,93.4t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sAJBJ7EmSF4j7_OHZRs-f9w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Being in a peculiar location, and not being awfully tall, I had to do a double take to figure out if this was actually a cell tower, but I think it is. It also looks kinda weird, due to its relatively short height, and (similar to other examples mentioned upthread), it is basically just a monopole structure with not much else on it (like antennas), except this one does have a couple of extra things on it (I have actually never known what those devices were, so I don't know what to call them).

The one in GA along I-75 was definitely a LongLines tower, now retrofitted for modern cell antennae.  You can see at the top where the four microwave horns once sat, the four squares.  Not uncommon to see those repurposed.

This one near where I live has had the same thing done. https://long-lines.net/places-routes/John_Tom_Hill/johntomhill.jpg
Oddly enough there's also a large OPI (outside plant interface) just past the driveway.  Wonder if it handled trunk lines from the tower to the Glastonbury exchange.

The one in Key West could either be a reporting beacon for the transmission lines or a signal amplifier for a fibre line.

[ErmineNotyours]

KSBN in Spokane, Washington has an AM transmitter on the roof of a building.  AM transmitters need a ground connection, so this station radiates wires out from the base of the tower and the roofs of [edit: the buildings around it].  I've read that this puts residents of the building and passers by inside a giant capacitor to get the connection to provide ground transmission of the station.  It's only 1000 watts.  Google Street View


(Wikimedia credit to me.)

[ErmineNotyours]

Warehouse rooftop AM radio array for KTNQ and KXTA Los Angeles.  The guywires come town to smaller supports near the ground.  Google Street View.

Los Angeles Times: Workers Under Towers Are Well-Wired but Clueless

[thenetwork]

I always thought that WLW's tower in Mason, Ohio looked bizzare.

You shouldve seen it in the 80s, when it was it's own transmitter farm when it was still set up as its' original multi-tower set-up.  At night there were red lights everywhere!

[renegade]

I always thought that WLW's tower in Mason, Ohio looked bizzare.

You shouldve seen it in the 80s, when it was it's own transmitter farm when it was still set up as its' original multi-tower set-up.  At night there were red lights everywhere!

Don't forget about the nearby Voice of America transmitter facility, which looked like a suspension bridge on acid.

[thenetwork]

I always thought that WLW's tower in Mason, Ohio looked bizzare.

You shouldve seen it in the 80s, when it was it's own transmitter farm when it was still set up as its' original multi-tower set-up.  At night there were red lights everywhere!

Don't forget about the nearby Voice of America transmitter facility, which looked like a suspension bridge on acid.

Maybe that's what I'm thinking of.  Right off of I-71.  I guess I thought WLW was the VOA site because their station started off with  500,000 Watts.

[GreenLanternCorps]

I always thought that WLW's tower in Mason, Ohio looked bizzare.

Need a picture..

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.3519979,-84.3261673,3a,75y,38.74h,119.93t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s3Rn__CR_65GLZ4IU6av5Hw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

My daughter dances in Mason, I'm by this tower several times a week, normally.

[ixnay]

I always thought that WLW's tower in Mason, Ohio looked bizzare.

Need a picture..

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.3519979,-84.3261673,3a,75y,38.74h,119.93t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s3Rn__CR_65GLZ4IU6av5Hw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

My daughter dances in Mason, I'm by this tower several times a week, normally.

She still does, even during the COVID crisis?

ixnay

[bing101]

https://www.eham.net/article/14253

Dixon, CA used to have unusual radio towers but that was leftover from when shortwave operations existed in the area.

http://www.radiomarine.org/gallery/show?keyword=kmi&panel=pab1_9

[J Route Z]

In Youngstown OH, I-680 passes under the guy wires of the WFMJ-TV tower.

Wow, I've never actually seen a road travel under this type of cable, especially so close to the roadway. Looks like if you're traveling in that far right lane merging onto this highway, that cable seems to be at a rather low clearance and hope to god a big box truck doesn't take out the whole tower (hopefully the image isn't true to scale)

[jeffandnicole]

In Youngstown OH, I-680 passes under the guy wires of the WFMJ-TV tower.

Wow, I've never actually seen a road travel under this type of cable, especially so close to the roadway. Looks like if you're traveling in that far right lane merging onto this highway, that cable seems to be at a rather low clearance and hope to god a big box truck doesn't take out the whole tower (hopefully the image isn't true to scale)

It's an interstate highway.  Regular tractor trailers pass under these cables every minute.

[GaryV]

The cable looks to be about twice the height of the overhead sign in the other lane.  No problem.

[Flint1979]

I always thought that WLW's tower in Mason, Ohio looked bizzare.

You shouldve seen it in the 80s, when it was it's own transmitter farm when it was still set up as its' original multi-tower set-up.  At night there were red lights everywhere!

Don't forget about the nearby Voice of America transmitter facility, which looked like a suspension bridge on acid.

Maybe that's what I'm thinking of.  Right off of I-71.  I guess I thought WLW was the VOA site because their station started off with  500,000 Watts.

WLW's blowtorch transmitter is on Tylersville Road, a little west of US-42.

[ftballfan]

I always thought that WLW's tower in Mason, Ohio looked bizzare.

You shouldve seen it in the 80s, when it was it's own transmitter farm when it was still set up as its' original multi-tower set-up.  At night there were red lights everywhere!

Don't forget about the nearby Voice of America transmitter facility, which looked like a suspension bridge on acid.

Maybe that's what I'm thinking of.  Right off of I-71.  I guess I thought WLW was the VOA site because their station started off with  500,000 Watts.

WLW's blowtorch transmitter is on Tylersville Road, a little west of US-42.

I've driven right past WLW on my trips to Kings Island from I-75 (Tylersville Road meets I-71 just south of Kings Island's parking lot)

[Flint1979]

I always thought that WLW's tower in Mason, Ohio looked bizzare.

You shouldve seen it in the 80s, when it was it's own transmitter farm when it was still set up as its' original multi-tower set-up.  At night there were red lights everywhere!

Don't forget about the nearby Voice of America transmitter facility, which looked like a suspension bridge on acid.

Maybe that's what I'm thinking of.  Right off of I-71.  I guess I thought WLW was the VOA site because their station started off with  500,000 Watts.

WLW's blowtorch transmitter is on Tylersville Road, a little west of US-42.

I've driven right past WLW on my trips to Kings Island from I-75 (Tylersville Road meets I-71 just south of Kings Island's parking lot)

I've driven past it quite a few times now but when I first saw it I was wondering who's weird looking tower is that? Then I looked it up and WLW came up. I thought it was cool looking. I've got off that I-75 exit quite a bit, without looking I believe it's exit 22. I always liked Kings Island more than Cedar Point.

[Roadrunner75]

Sutro Tower San Francisco is bizarre looking but Iconic in the Bay Area.

This tower gave me a good game in Google Maps recently.  I was looking around on Streetview in the Marin Headlands north of the Golden Gate and when I looked across at San Francisco I was wondering what that odd looking tower was.  Gave me a good time neglecting work and other responsibilities for a little while scrolling around on aerial and at street level trying to find it (Google Maps/Streetview is probably my biggest killer of productivity).  As a side note, my wife and I had our honeymoon in San Francisco 16 years ago and while we were there (our first / only time in CA) we did some driving around and one of things I wanted to find (pre-mobile internet days) was the cross in the park from Dirty Harry.  Never did find it at the time, but I know where it is now.  And yes, we did actually do fun touristy things instead of just me driving around checking out roads and other odds and ends I've seen in movies...

[Mr. Matté]

In Youngstown OH, I-680 passes under the guy wires of the WFMJ-TV tower.

Wow, I've never actually seen a road travel under this type of cable, especially so close to the roadway. Looks like if you're traveling in that far right lane merging onto this highway, that cable seems to be at a rather low clearance and hope to god a big box truck doesn't take out the whole tower (hopefully the image isn't true to scale)

It's an interstate highway.  Regular tractor trailers pass under these cables every minute.

The cable looks to be about twice the height of the overhead sign in the other lane.  No problem.

Being a nerd, I went and checked the height using Google Earth's 3D view to get the approximate horizontal distances and elevation measurements of the anchor block, roadway, and connection point on the tower and did some trig.


At the edge of the road closest to the anchor, the height of the cable above it is about 22 feet so above the general maximum height for trucks, but not by too much. At the leftmost northbound lane, the cable is about 59 feet above the road. All measurements approximate and shall be verified under the supervision of a licensed professional surveyor.